Cover Letters

Cover letters are often an unfamiliar genre for graduate students who are preparing to enter the job market. Many have never had to write a cover letter, and are unsure of what a cover letter for the academic job market should include, or how it should change for each university/college to which they apply. Michelle Smith describes the academic cover letter as a place “where [GTAs] can describe how their background and experience are the ideal fit for the company and position to which they are applying. They are helping the employer determine their competency by highlighting the information on their resume that illustrates that” (2). The purpose of a cover letter is to explain the information that appears on the GTAs’ CVs, and to make potential employers interested in the candidate. Before submitting a cover letter, GTAs must tailor each cover letter submission for the school to which they are applying, and must constantly revise their cover letter to adequately represent their current pedagogical ideologies and their current skill sets. Christina Berchini advises that, “If at all possible — and this is harder than you might think, given how free time is more the exception than the rule for most academics — ask a trusted colleague with experience in these matters to review your letter. Perhaps more important, be open to their feedback. The academics who have lived on the other side of the search committee tend to have an eye for how these documents look and an ear for how they communicate” (6). As a WPA, reviewing a GTA’s cover letter for the academic job sector is incredibly beneficiary as you can provide them with feedback that is specialized for the field to which they are applying. To better prepare GTAs to write cover letters for the academic job sector, below are tips on the format of a cover letter for academia, links to Webinars that discuss cover letter writing, and links to popular and scholarly articles discussing cover letter writing for GTAs.

COVER LETTER INSTRUCTIONS:

Header (should match the header on your CV)

Date

Hiring Manager/Title

Company/Organization Name

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

 

Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr. Last Name:

Section One: (2-4 sentences) Why are you writing? What’s the name of the position/company? How are you qualified for this position?

Section Two: (2-5 paragraphs) This section varies per types of jobs, but for jobs in academia, the following provides suggestions per paragraph:

Paragraph One: What type of teacher are you? What are your pedagogical ideologies?

Paragraph Two: How will your pedagogical ideologies align with the institute to which you’re applying? How will you be a good fit for their program?

Paragraph Three: What does a day in your writing classroom look like? Why are these activities/scaffolding practices important?

Paragraph Four: Do you have any administrative experience within the academic job sector? Do you have any related experience that you would like to further explain?

Section Three: (2-4 sentences) Make sure to thank your reader! What do you want to happen next?

Sincerely,

Your Name

 

COVER LETTER SAMPLE BY AUTHOR:

ASHLEY N. DAUGHTRIDGE

Cover Letter

2411 Still Forest Place APT 406, Raleigh NC 27607

(252) 903-5904 • andaught@ncsu.edu

 

April 13, 2018

 

First Year Writing Program

North Carolina State University

2211 Hillsborough Street

Raleigh, NC 27607

 

Dear FYWP Committee:

I am writing to apply for the FYW Lecturer position available at NCSU. I am currently a FYWP GTA at NCSU, where I am finishing my Masters of English. I believe that my pedagogical ideologies complement the philosophy of NCSU’s FYWP.

The ENG 101: Academic Writing and Research classroom environment I work to create is an inquiry-based learning community that values discovery. I hope to inspire student voice and participation by challenging and expanding ideas, engaging in progressive discourse as it relates to students’ daily lives. I believe students are more receptive to learning when they can see the direct relation of the learning to their daily lives; therefore, I teach academic writing and research through the disciplines, inviting students to discover and explore the genres of their potential career fields. While encouraging a socially conscious classroom, my courses are loosely based on identity and celebrating the diversity my students embody. My students engage with voices of color, women, and LGBTQ+, further heightening their social awareness. Inspiring conversations on various avenues of deeper thinking, these diverse authors help me to cultivate a reflective, analytical, socially-conscious classroom environment.

My teaching ideologies and experiences directly align with the common goals of the NCSU community. In every class session, my students recursively practice Think and Do through constant inquiry, analysis, and writing. My teaching is research intensive, with students practicing various research techniques including searching for scholarly articles, critically reading and analyzing research, placing researchers in conversation, and applying the research to their own experiences. Preparing students for the use and application of research is a directly transferrable skill that they will utilize during their college career at a research-extensive institution. I believe my educational and teaching experience sets me apart from other applicants and affords me valuable insights that would help me be successful in this position. I have first-hand insight on how to best serve the students of this institution because I attended the University as an undergraduate and graduate student, and I have had various opportunities to work with the population that creates NCSU’s student body, namely working as: a national online tutor for high school, college, and university students; a writing center tutor for a diverse socio-economic class and wide age group at a local community college; a student-teacher and substitute at local Wake County high schools’ English and ESL classrooms; and a monitor of NCSU student athletes’ academic behavior at ASPSA. Each of these experiences granted me a better understanding of how to best serve the various individuals that create NCSU’s student body.

A typical day for students in my NCSU ENG 101 class may include: writing journals that reflect on daily goals; absorbing brief new content with examples; practicing guided class-practice of learned content; engaging in practice with pairs or groups; implementing newly learned skills individually; peer-reviewing peer’s individual implementations; and applying teacher feedback. Each of these segments is necessary for the scaffolding of new ideas and writing practices while appealing to the diverse learning needs of students. Breaking common student misconceptions of writing as a nonrenewable resource, I believe in presenting writing as a muscle that strengthens with practice. In my classroom, we often reflect upon the process of writing, such as recursive planning, drafting, and revising.

In addition to my extensive teaching experience, I also have experience with the work of writing program administration. I have served on NCSU’s FYWP Council, where we discussed program policies and administrative topics, and on a FYWP Council subcommittee, where we revised policy and framework for ENG 105. Through these experiences, I learned how change is enacted and how colleagues converge, converse, and compromise to reach a consensus that best serves students and stakeholders. To further my experience in writing program administration, I had the opportunity to work closely with a WPA at NMSU through a graduate course taught by Dr. Chris Anson on Writing Program Administration. In this course, I conducted an assessment of NMSU’s writing program through a series of recursive interviews and current writing program administration research. My writing program administration experiences have further solidified my passion for teaching my students and serving my department.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let me know if you would like to review any additional materials (course evaluations, teaching/assessment evaluations, etc.). I am excited for the opportunity to continue serving NCSU students as a lecturer and to continue contributing to the collaborative, inclusive atmosphere of your FYWP.

Sincerely,

Ashley Daughtridge

 

LINKS TO WEBINARES ON COVER LETTER WRITING IN ACADEMIA:

• Rob Jenkin’s “The Community College Cover Letter“
• Judith White’s “Will You Read My Cover Letter?“
• Christina Berchini’s “It’s All About Balance“
• Pallavi Eswara’s “Creating a Good Cover Letter“
• Michelle Shaw’s “How to Avoid the ‘I’m Wonderful’ Cover Letter“